A Birthday of Sorts
by TheVillageOfBree
Summary: The Knotwise family has been invited to party, they are never invited to parties and Tania Knotwise is particularly excited. Not knowing just how important this party will be for her. A brief prequel to my other story An Adventure of Sorts. Very minimal Pippin/OC
1. An Invitation

**Welcome to _A Birthday of Sorts _it's a very brief prequel to my far more in depth story _An Adventure of Sorts._ As this is a prequel it isn't necessary for you to have read that one, you could probably read them either way and it (hopefully) wouldn't affect the story too drastically.  
>Just a warning this is very very short, it was originally only going to be one chapter but somehow ended up being two, I'll upload the second one in a couple of days.<strong>

**enjoy! **

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><p>Nineteen year old Tania Knotwise sucked on her bleeding thumb whilst reading a letter that arrived outside her hole that morning. She had managed to cut herself with the letter opener which she was sure her older brother Togo would laugh about, so she had been very careful to hide it from him, luckily he had busied himself with eating pretty much all the bread at luncheon and hasn't paid Tania's thumb a second glance. The letter had been addressed to the entire Knotwise family, not just Tania herself but since Belba Knotwise was out at work (and Togo was nothing but a stick in the mud) Tania elected to open it herself. She sat by the window, the sunlight cascading in as her blue eyes studied the letter.<p>

The young hobbit made a noise of surprise. The letter had been delivered by the Took family, they certainly weren't a group who had much to do with the Knotwise's very often, Tania absentmindedly ran a hand through her unruly brown locks, they'd been invited to a party. How wonderful! She was rarely invited to anything. Evidentially it was the birthday of one of the younger Took children, the letter read he was turning twenty.

_That would explain the invitation_, Tania thought to herself, he was just beginning his Tweens and probably invited the whole Shire. She was rather unfamiliar with the Took's, but they seemed like a nice enough bunch, despite the rumours. The Baggins' had the same sort of stories told about them; unsavoury ones, but Tania had actually met Bilbo Baggins himself once or twice. He was nothing short of lovely.

"Evening, Tiny!" A voice called and Tania looked up to see Togo gazing down at her, she grimaced.  
>"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Togo?"<br>Togo smirked and ruffled Tania's hair, "I popped over to the market this afternoon and I'm sure Ivy Gamwich was eyeing me." His eyebrows wiggled and Tania snorted.  
>"I highly doubt that, Togo. You're about as appealing as a dead fish."<br>"But dead fish can be very tasty, Tiny." Togo said with a grin and quickly took a nearby apple to the face.  
>"So can apples!"<p>

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><p>That evening, after supper, Tania found her mother sitting in her armchair. With the invitation in hand Tania sat in front of the fire place at Belba's feet.<br>"Mother, we've been invited to a party!" Tania said with an excited grin.  
>Belba smiled back, "Have we, Pumpkin?"<br>Tania nodded, "I opened the invitation this morning, and it's from the Tooks! One of their kin is having their 20th birthday party in the glade and we've been invited!"  
>Tania passed the letter over and Belba read with a giddy expression, "it's only tomorrow evening, dear. You can wear that nice green dress I made you last week."<br>Tania groaned, "Do I have to?"  
>"No" Belba said, "but I would be very disheartened if you didn't"<p>

Tania knew what that meant, that meant she had to wear it. She was worried, that dress was lovely, but she always felt she was asking for attention in it. The dress was _too_ lovely, Tania was sure they're wouldn't be any lads worth attempting to impress at that party. How wrong she was. You see, this party wasn't any party, this is the party where Tania would -for the first time- meet one Peregrin Took, who at this point wasn't even a thought lurking in the very recesses of Tania's funny little hobbit mind. She had no idea just how important this moment would be to her or how drastically it would affect the next few years of her life. With a sigh, the young unknowing hobbit stood from the floor and padded to her room.

"Goodnight, Tania!" Her mother called as Tania closed her rounded door and collapsed on her patchwork quilt.

"Tomorrow", she whispered to herself, "I am going to a party, an important party." After a few minutes of silence she sat up straight in bed.  
>"I should bake blueberry muffins before Togo gets to the ingredients tomorrow morning."<p>

And she did, she grabbed her nightgown from the hook on her door and tiptoed into the kitchen. Belba had already gone to her room for the night, good. With expert skill, Tania managed to open the pantry door with nary a creak and pick up all the ingredients she needed. The blueberries were hard to find, Togo had obviously hidden them and been eating them without anyone knowing, as they were located in a biscuit jar. Tania rolled her eyes and placed the ingredients on the kitchen table, silently gasping as one of the eggs escaped her grip and tried to roll off the edge. The young hobbit felt her heart stop as she literally leaped through the air and caught the egg before it could fall to the floor. Tania quickly realized she hadn't thought this over properly when she herself fell to the floor.

There was a deafening _bang_ and Tania lay flat on her back with an egg in her hand, just listening to creaking floorboards getting near.

"What'cha doin' on the floor, Tania?" A small voice whispered. It wasn't Togo or her mother, Tania smiled.  
>"Hey, Posco." She replied to her youngest brother, Posco was but eight years old and a very light sleeper, "I'm cooking blueberry muffins, or at least, I am planning to."<br>Posco yawned, "why're you on the floor though...?"  
>"Well, I fell, Posco. Simple as that, you should be heading back to bed." Tania said while pulling herself off the floor.<br>Posco nodded, his long blond hair flopping over his bright green eyes. Tania ushered him back to his room and gently closed the door.

She made sure to cook quietly from then on.


	2. A Chance Meeting

The muffins were unmistakably burnt. Tania sat at the kitchen table with her head in her hands, groaning in self-loathing. The night before after baking the muffins she managed to fall asleep while waiting for them to cook and only awoke when she smelled burning, the entire Knotwise hole smelt of smoke and Tania had tried her best to air it out by opening a few windows, needless to say, it hadn't worked.

"Why didn't you wait until morning, muffin?" Belba asked her daughter.  
>Tania simply groaned, "don't mention muffins to me, mother"<br>Belba sighed and ruffled Tania's hair, "It will all be fine, we don't _have_ to bring food."  
>"I wanted to make a good impression!" Tania moaned and Belba petted her head.<br>"You will, Tania. Don't worry about the muffins; one or two of them are still alright. You can take those ones."

Tania lifted her head from the table and wrapped her arms around Belba, "thank you, mother"  
>Belba smiled, "that's fine, dear. But don't forget that I won't be able to attend the party, I have to stay here and watch Posco."<br>Tania's eyes widened, "sorry?"  
>"Don't worry, Togo will watch over you.<p>

Tania grimaced.

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><p>For the third time that evening, Tania slapped Togo's hand away from the platter of scarce muffins. Togo huffed.<br>"Can't I have /one/, Tiny?" He said, running a hand through his red hair.  
>The duo had already started walking toward the glade where the party would be held, they could already see the lights and smell the food.<br>Tania groaned, "You've already had four, Togo. There aren't going to be any left for the party, I just want the Tooks to have a good impression of us Knotwises and so far, you're making it rather difficult."  
>"But, Tania. The muffins I ate were burnt-" Togo was cut off by his sister elbowing him in the ribs.<br>"We're here."

There were at least 30 hobbits meandering about the glade already and a large table completely covered in delectable looking food that smelled nothing short of delicious. Tania looked down at the six muffins sitting on her platter and suddenly felt horrendously inadequate. She could feel embarrassment and nervousness curling inside her, making her feel almost sick. The fact she was wearing her green dress only made it worse. The dress was a gorgeous minty green, embroidered with pink and yellow flowers around the hem and neckline. It was all too much; her mother even insisted on tying her hair up with a matching green ribbon, she felt very much out of place.

With fear in her eyes she whispered, "I think I want to go back home."  
>But turned to find Togo was gone.<br>Her heart sank to her toes, her brother was so unreliable!  
>Tania stood as high as she could, attempting to peer over the crowd of hobbits to find Togo, his hair was so bright that it wouldn't have been a very difficult feat, had Tania been taller.<p>

"Dear oh dear...what am I going to do?" Tania asked herself, subconsciously chewing on her lower lip, she couldn't leave the party without Togo and was too frightened to enter the crowd without him.  
>After a few seconds attempting to strike up even the slightest semblance of courage, Tania shuffled towards the banquet and delicately placed her pathetic platter of muffins beside an extravagant chocolate cake.<br>The young hobbit cut herself a giant slice, "for the nerves" she assured herself while taking a large bite. An avalanche of crumbs spilled from her mouth and down the front of her dress, Tania hurriedly brushed them away.

"Are you looking for someone?" A voice asked and Tania jumped.  
>"Sorry?" She said while spinning around.<br>Her eyes met those of another hobbit, he had a soft smile on his face and the lights behind him danced in his chestnut curls, Tania blinked.  
>"You seem like you're looking for someone" he reaffirmed, the smile still on his face, Tania could feel her palms sweating. The slice of half-eaten chocolate cake was still in her hand.<br>"My brother, he's tall, red hair."  
>The hobbit shrugged, "I haven't seen him."<br>Tania nodded, "alright."

The two stood in silence for a few seconds, Tania carefully observed the other hobbit, his green eyes twinkled and the small smile on his face grew into a smirk. It was that kind of smirk that made Tania melt, so mischievous, yet... handsome? Her heart fluttered.

The other hobbit furrowed his brow, "would you mind me asking your family's name?"  
>"Uh- erm- why? I mean, I'm a Knotwise..." Tania mumbled, her face a light shade of pink.<br>"Because, Miss Knotwise." The handsome hobbit said, "I'm obliged to give your family a gift, as today is my twentieth birthday." He ended with a triumphant smirk and Tania tried to string together some words, but nothing came out.  
>The hobbit before her spun around and produced a basket full of various items, Tania could see apples, carrots, bread, a jar of apricot jam and a wheel of cheese, among other things. She took the basket gratefully and smiled a shy smile. With a smirk on his face, the older hobbit placed a final item atop the basket in Tania's hands. A cloak, beautiful and made from soft, dark green fabric.<br>A blush graced her cheeks as she looked into the other hobbit's eyes, "Thank you, Master Took." She whispered.  
>He smiled, "It's Peregrin Took."<br>Tania felt as though a swarm of butterflies had entered her stomach and she could feel her pointed ears burning, she knew at this very second that this hobbit, _Peregrin Took_ she thought to herself. Had captured her heart.

Before she had a chance to introduce herself, or even wish Peregrin a happy birthday a rough hand gripped her forearm and pulled her away. The hand belonged to Togo who appeared desperate to get away from the party.  
>"What are you doing?!" Tania cried as Togo pulled her further down the road and closer to the Knotwise hole.<br>"I appear to have offended Ivy Gamwich... She was coming toward me with a frying pan."

Tania wasn't even slightly surprised.

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><p>The rest of the night Tania spent thinking about Peregrin. All she knew of him was his age and his name. He was but a year older than her, a small smile graced Tania's lips. Sadly, she knew that he wouldn't remember her and was right. He had so many hobbits to greet and present gifts to that she would be but one face in an entire sea. If Tania hadn't been pulled away so fast; <em>I might have introduced myself,<em> she thought, if she had he may have remembered her.

All she knew was that she remembered him and one day, he would remember her. With a yawn, she picked the soft cloak up from the basket of gifts and hung it on a hook beside her front door.

She loved that thing.

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><p><strong>I wasn't joking when I said this would be short, but I am planning some oneshots for after <strong>**_An Adventure of Sorts_**** which will be up as soon as I've finished them. I hope you enjoyed this little prequel, and if you haven't read ****_An Adventure of Sorts_**** it would be radical if you decided to go and read that one now.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**-Bree**


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